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Clarion-Ledger:
Ticket sales near sellout for Ole Miss football opener

OXFORD — Less than 5,000 tickets remain for Saturday’s season-opening football game between Ole Miss and Memphis, according to Ole Miss ticket director Sans Russell.

Russell expects a large walk-up crowd the day of the game, which begins at 6 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. He said a sellout is possible.

“It’s going to be close,” Russell said. “There were a lot of students here today buying tickets.”

The game marks the debut for new coach Houston Nutt and transfer quarterback Jevan Snead. The Rebels beat Memphis 23-21 last season in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl.

They don't really give a about beating Memphis.

Actually, Ole Miss fans are terribly excited about Nutt, Austin, Snead, etc...... I think any opponent would sell well.

I guess after they beat us, they'll proclaim themselves the best team ever, and proceed to win 3 more games the rest of the year. Same ole same ole

Ole Miss' only non-conference game to sell out the expanded VHS is.... Memphis. You've had Mizzou. You've had Texas Tech. You've played Wake Forest.

For a team that Ole Miss cares so little of.... Memphis has consistently been your best non-conference gate.

You said it better than I.

"Ole Miss' only non-conference game to sell out the expanded VHS is.... Memphis. You've had Mizzou. You've had Texas Tech. You've played Wake Forest."

And we all knew for a fact that we sucked. Not much reason to go. 2008 is a new year, new staff, new approach, new QB, new everything.

When did Ole Miss start charging student to get into the game? I thought they got into the game for free.

For the most part you have sucked for the last 45 years. As far as the new year, new staff, new approach, we go through this with you every 4.5 yrs. Since 1971, you have had 8 new coaches.

Not trying to talk trash, this time, but even if you get a W against us this weekend, you are still looking down the barrel of a 3-4 win season....again.

if it was truly near a sellout, why would they be discounting tickets all of a sudden?

B/c they are bad seats that might not sell and they want to ensure a sellout.

so have we.....

There is no question that new staffs bring new excitement; however, Memphis and Ole Miss have been playing football for a long time, and as uneven as the series is, the game has always been a big money-maker for both schools. It also is one of the few games that Ole Miss and Memphis both generate "bowl" level press coverage in the Memphis metro market. Whether Ole Miss fans care to admit it or not, the Memphis game means a lot to them. I saw it in 2005, when after the Gary Pack interception in the endzone, the Ole Miss fans celebrated in the stadium for 45 minutes after the game. I saw it again last year when the Memphis 2-pt conversion failed. Ole Miss fans may act they have have everything to lose, but in reality, both teams do.

Students have had to pay atleast for the last 6 years- I cant vouch for before then.

Which tickets are discounted? just curious. If you are talking about the North endzone, they are always cheaper. Season tickets there are half the price of regular season tickets.

how bad is the north end zone?

I don't blame them for being excited. The addition of Nutt and Snead should actually provide an SEC win this year. lol

Imagine watching a game from your high school bleachers in the blistering sun.

if you have to ask, your butt's probably too wide, lol.

seriously, if your row is full, you'll have to stand and turn slightly for all of you to fit...think about getting a group picture and you all have to stand at an angle and squeeze in tight to fit in the viewfinder.


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North End Zone-always has been discounted

Students-have always paid, discounted amount but it's never been completely free to students

Always= back to at least the early 80s.

IMHO, the only relevant issue is who wins or loses the game.

As for comparing the rest of the season, swapping schedules might be more revealing.

Let us swap conferences and Memphis would be a Top 25 program.

Maybe if Cal was your football coach. Maybe.

Recruiting to Memphis, in the SEC, with the money to significantly boost facilities....there is NO QUESTION we would become a Top 25 program.

Give all the blue chip athletes the choice (on level playing ground) between Knoxville, Athens, Fayetteville OR Memphis and just watch!

"Give all the blue chip athletes the choice (on level playing ground) between Knoxville, Athens, Fayetteville OR Memphis and just watch!"

Please.....

All things being equal (obviously they currently are not)...give an 18 year old blue chip athlete the choice of living their 4 years of college in Oxford, Starkville, or the small towns listed above and Memphis and 9 out of 10 would choose Memphis over podunk towns.

Look at basketball, where our tradition and facilities are equal or better than most of the SEC and see the results.

I sure hope we can figure out a way into a BCS conference and to also get our administration committed to football, because if/when we do...look out!

a little far fetched, for sure. however, change Knoxville to Oxford and Athens to Starkville and the point is extremely valid.

That's another hypothesis altogether.

I was referring to the forecast of another 3-4 win season by our hated opponent, who has somehow manage to beat us 3 years in a row, regardless of the subsequent season records by either team. The season records after the game is far more a reflection of the schedule.

I just don't think that is much for us to hang our hat on, since if we played their schedule, the result might be very similar.

In my opinion, beating Ole Miss is more important than their season record.

That is, since we aren't talking trash--just yet.

You keep arguing based on apples & oranges.

Of course, if we (C-USA) played an SEC schedule, we'd struggle.

Put us on a level field for a few years and our results would FAR surpass Miss. results of the past 50 years...

Sorry. Really wasn't trying to argue so much as to offer a different view on your forecast for Ole Miss to have another 3-4 win season.

My point was simply that their season record, however dismal it may be, doesn't carry much relevance to this game. If the intent was to make them look bad, I think that makes their wins over us even more depressing. In my opinion.

And, the reason being is that we would probably struggle with their schedule as well.

Heck, let's just beat the crap out of them, and nothing else will much matter. I can't wait for kick-off.

Struggle is an understatment. Have you started hitting the sauce already?

No, it's just time to get the red pants out of mothballs and dust off the candelabra for the Grove. Ah, football in the South.......

Yep, I was in school from 2000-2004. My first years there, the student football tickets were $5 per game for a total of $35 for a season package. When they expanded the stadium and moved the student section to the South Endzone, they raised the price to $7 per game or $49 for a season ticket package.

The rest of the money for tickets is included as part of regular tuition. The only sports we charge students for are basketball and football, and both are severely discounted rates for students.

I believe UT doesn't charge their students for any sports. It's first come, first served. They receive their student ticket revenue solely from money included in every student's tuition.

Just curious but what leads you to this prediction?

Personally, I think we should be at the 3 win mark by the end of September. I'll be shocked if we're anything less than 5-7 this fall, and honestly I expect we'll be 6-6 or 7-5 and bowling barring a bunch of significant injuries.

Last year, we were either leading or down by 1 score or less in 9 of our 12 games heading into the 4th quarter (the other 3 being LSU, Arkansas, and Missouri). That's with awful QB play, no team unity, and one of the worst coaches around. Those were our problems last year in a nutshell: coaching, QB play, and over conditioning that led to 4th quarter collapses, probably in that order. By all measures, those issues were addressed this off-season, so I just don't see us finishing nearly as poorly as we did last year, as much as you'd like to see that happen. However, I am curious as to what your reasons are for your opinions about our team.

I got some people telling me you can buy tickets there. I was going to wait till i got to oxford. Am i making a mistake? I need 3 together. The rest of the group going down there has tickets.

Only reason I would say go ahead and buy is cause you need 3. 3 seems to be harder to get due to people wanting to sell 2 or 4 at the same time.

First of all, thanks for responding.

I could buy 4. What kind of pricing and seating could you expect? The last couple times we played there, i already had my tickets.

Actually, UTK DOES charge for tickets. Students at UTK also don't pay any athletic fees with tuition.

Has the Tic Price era been wiped clean from the collective memory of Tiger nation?

Resources ... schmesources ... put an average coach in charge of the program and be prepared to count the average results.

i agree that OM should win at least 6 games or the year is yet another disappointment. the rebels will be favored in 3 of the 4 ooc games. wake forrest is also winnable.

so if you assume OM wins 3 in ooc, they only need 3 sec wins to win 6. they have Vandy, who should be much less competitive this year. also, they have MSU at home. That is at least 5 games where OM will be the favorite. So. Carolina is probably a tossup, but it is likely OM will be a slight favorite in that game in Oxford. Auburn is also at home and i'm not convinced they are going to be world beaters.

Bama and Arkansas are also beatable.

All of this assumes that the new QB is actually good. I really won't believe it until I see it because of what I've heard from OM fans about Spurlock, Lane and Schaeffer.

oh, and for the 'what ifs' about last years almost wins. please don't forget the other side...you were just a play away from losing to MEM and NWestern St played you toe to toe.

Bottom feeder SEC schools don't beat Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina etc........ It's simple. They beat teams like Vandy, Samford, Memphis, sometimes Mississippi State, that's about it. Even when Ole Miss was going 6-5 every year in the SEC, 3 of those wins every year were against teams of the caliber mentioned above. So they technically only had to win 3 SEC games a year. Their terrible, always have been, always will be. They're not Tennessee, not Georgia, not Florida, not Auburn, not Alabama, they're "Hotty Toddy Gosh Almighty Who the Hell are We? Flim Flam Bim Bam, NOBODY GIVES A

Very good rant against our football rival during game week. But, you might want to edit out the part about always have been.

South Carolina??? Have you not checked the SEC East standings lately? They've made as many trips to Atlanta as we have and that's with 2 HOF coaches.

You make some excellent points, as you generally do. Actually you're probably a little more confident in the Rebels' chances in Winston-Salem than most knowledgeable Ole Miss fans are. I'm not sure we could beat them with Hardy and Jerry, much less without them. I think it'll be a close, lower scoring game, where a fumble on a QB sack could make all the difference in the world --- which is where Hardy or Jerry would be very useful.

I also agree on the hype of the prior QBs. I THINK I know what Snead will do, but I'm not going to carve it in stone until I see him in 2-3 games this year.

I just called the Ole Miss Ticket Office and got 2 $50 dollar tickets in the tigers section. Tickets are still available.

I'd still be willing to bet they have a better overall record in the last 10 years then you guys have.......

Now that explains alot. You are one of those young Rebs that think because you are in the SEC you have a sense of entitlement. When in actuallity, you are a lower tier BCS school. I'm sure you were "IN" with Coach zerO and bought his championship sales pitch. That worked out good for him, three SEC wins in three years. Wow son, you do realize he was selling a pipe dream. There are reasons why OM has not won an SEC title in the last two generations. And you want to continue to build yourself (Ol' Siss) on a Memphis board with Memphis fans. Yea it is game week, but you Daisy's are always here with your little fingers waving with your ....but we are better than you are. Most of us don't buy it. We see what you guys do the rest of the season........so in the infamous words of blockhead, Trev Alberts. Mississippi??? Oh the RUNTS. :lmfao:

Ol' Siss........servicing the SEC with a $mile!

Definitely, Kentucky and South Carolina have left OM in the rear view mirror in support and national prominence. Besides Vandy, I don't view OM as being clearly better than any other SEC program at this point. Even Mississippi State seems to have passed OM or definitely evened it up. Croom has out recruited OM in state for the last two years and is on his way to having the better in state recruits this year as well. I guess Bruiser, UM Rebels, Ol' Siss Cowgirl, etc. can keep increasing their post counts over here with more of the same repetitive drivel about how good they are.......on a Memphis board.

UT charges students for football tickets.

Unfortunately you would lose that bet. Ole piss has a better overall and SEC record than SC. Amazingly, they have beaten SC the last 5 times they have played. I was shocked, but then again, look how bad uab is and yet they some how have managed to win 7 of the last 8 games